The present invention relates to thermal management of optical computing devices and, more particularly, to actively controlling the temperature of an integrated computational element used in an optical computing device in order to affect its performance.
Optical computing devices, also commonly referred to as “opticoanalytical devices,” can be used to analyze and detect one or more physical or chemical properties of a substance in real time. Such optical computing devices will often employ a processing element that optically interacts with the substance to determine quantitative and/or qualitative values of one or more physical or chemical properties of the substance. The processing element may be, for example, an integrated computational element (ICE), also known as a multivariate optical element (MOE). Electromagnetic radiation that optically interacts with the ICE is changed so as to be readable by a detector, such that an output of the detector can be correlated to the physical or chemical property of the substance being monitored.
An ICE typically includes a plurality of optical layers consisting of various materials whose index of refraction and size may vary between each layer. The layers may be strategically deposited and sized so as to selectively pass predetermined fractions of electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths configured to substantially mimic a regression vector corresponding to a particular physical or chemical property of interest. As a result, the output light intensity from the ICE conveyed to the detector may be related to the physical or chemical property of interest for the substance.
It has been found, however, that temperature fluctuations can adversely impact the performance of an ICE, and potentially shift the resulting transmission spectrum or profile of the ICE. As a result, the output signals derived from the ICE may produce inaccurate measurements or concentrations of the physical or chemical property of interest for the substance. Therefore, it may prove advantageous to actively control the temperature of an ICE, and thereby maintain or control its operating performance in a predictable manner.